British Irish RIGHTS WATCH

# BLOODY SUNDAY INQUIRY #
Week 42

___________________

# Back # Previous # Home # Next #

TOP 15 - 18 OCTOBER 2001 TOP

This week the Tribunal continued to hear the evidence of Patrick O’Donnell who was shot in the shoulder as he was taking cover in Glenfada Park North.   Daniel Gillespie told the Tribunal how he was hit by a bullet when he was in Glenfada Park North.

Hugh Gallagher was 15 years old at the time of Bloody Sunday and was arrested before the march had started.  He was talking with neighbours on Long Tower Street when he was arrested.  Soldier 104 had said that he had been arrested for throwing stones.

John Carr was watching from the window of his house in Abbey Drive when he saw Gerard McKinney shot whilst he had both his hands in the air.  Mr Carr described a soldier running over the body lying in the corner of Glenfada Park North.  Denis McLaughlin identified himself as the youth who was photographed in a distressed state at the gable end of Glenfada Park North.  Greg Doherty was one of the first people to enter Glenfada Park North after the shootings and helped carry the body of William McKinney into Abbey Park.  He said that Mr McKinney was still alive when he was carried away.

A full transcript of proceedings is available at http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk

1            PATRICK O’DONNELL’S EVIDENCE

1.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

1.1.1            Glenfada Park North

Mr O’Donnell agreed that it is possible that he was hit by a bullet which came from a soldier at the north end of the car park who fired a shot which would have gone through the slats in the fencing and hit him in the shoulder either directly or from off the wall.

1.2            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

Mr Glasgow told Mr O’Donnell that he will make no suggestion that he did anything that deserved him being shot or that he was guilty of any offence.

1.2.1       Glenfada Park North

Mr O’Donnell was asked about the report published in the Guardian which said he had been shot as he threw himself on top of a woman when he saw a soldier taking aim at her.  He said that the article was not correct.

Mr O’Donnell had been at the corner with a woman and another man.  He said that he had not seen a soldier take aim before he was shot.  Mr O’Donnell saw people running in every direction before he huddled down.

1.2.2            Medical evidence

Mr O’Donnell did not know that fragments of bullets were removed from his wound.

1.2.3   Taxi office

Mr O’Donnell said that it was the taxi driver who asked him to go and sit down in the taxi office.  Mr O’Donnell agreed that it is possible that to a soldier that might have appeared that he simply walked away from the area of arrest.

Mr O’Donnell said that he was not carried into the taxi office.  He did not go into the back office.  The wound to his head was an inch and a half long.

1.2.4   1972 statement

Mr O’Donnell said that the reason there is a blank in his 1972 statement at the place name where an injured man and boy were taken was because he probably did not know the name of the street.

1.3            FURTHER QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

1.3.1       Taxi office

Mr O’Donnell does not recall seeing any coffins in the taxi office.

1.3.2            Glenfada Park North

Mr O’Donnell recalls seeing two soldiers.

2          DON CAMPBELL’S EVIDENCE

2.1            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

2.1.1       Glenfada Park North

Mr Campbell saw William McKinney in the middle of the car park of Glenfada Park North.  He saw somebody being carried past towards the entrance to Abbey Park.  He had heard shots being fired near to him.  There were roughly 20 people in Glenfada Park at this time.

He said that he could not recall whether he remembered seeing a body being carried past when he gave his statement to Eversheds.  He had no reason not to tell the BSI about a person he saw being carried through Glenfada Park.

Mr Campbell noticed about 10 soldiers running along behind the garages to the north of Glenfada Park.  He thought the soldiers were sealing the whole lot of Glenfada Park off.

Mr Campbell saw people running down Rossville Street.  There were lots of people lying down on the rubble barricade.  One young man was lying flat out on his back and was not moving.  He saw a second and third person.  The third person was injured and had people around him.  He was crouching down near to the barricade.  He had nothing in his hands.

2.1.2       South of the Rossville Flats

Mr Campbell said that he looked towards the bottom of Block 1.  He could see a group of people and heard someone shout from that group that another person had been shot and he and Mr McKinney and three others ran across. 

He saw a young man carried round the corner from the direction of the front door of the Rossville Flats.  While this was going on, just as the man had been laid down, a rush of people came through the gap between Blocks 1 and 2.  All the time he could hear shooting coming from the car park area of the Rossville Flats and from Glenfada Park North.

Mr Campbell said that he ran with William McKinney and a couple of others south towards the gardens northwest of Joseph Place and took cover behind the three penny bits.  He could see a commotion at the bottom of the pram ramp at Glenfada Park South.  Mr Campbell said that Mr McKinney made three attempts to go and take pictures but that he had pulled him down to stop him going.

Three or so shots seemed to whiz over his head.  He thought that they were coming from the Derry walls.  He remembers Father Mulvey waving his hanky north up Rossville Street towards were the soldiers where and calling for help.  At that point, William McKinney jumped up and ran across Rossville Street. 

2.1.3            William McKinney

Mr Campbell said that Mr McKinney ran to a group that was surrounding a body at the gable end of Glenfada Park North.  Mr McKinney leaned over to look at the body and then suddenly fell down near to it on the pavement outside Glenfada Park.

As he ran towards the Glenfada Park North car park, Mr Campbell saw a soldier who was alone and appeared dazed.  He was standing behind the wall of a small garden.  He had a rifle and was leaning on it.

2.2            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

2.2.1            William McKinney

Mr Campbell agreed that he did not make a statement at the time of Bloody Sunday.  The first and only statement he ever made was to Eversheds.  He agreed that his recollections are vague and that being asked to recount his experiences was very confusing.

Mr Treacy told Mr Campbell that the great body of evidence before the Tribunal suggests that by the time the ambulance had arrived, William McKinney was already dead.

Mr Campbell does not recall seeing William McKinney with a cine camera.  Mr Treacy told Mr Campbell that the last incident that was recorded on Mr McKinney’s cine camera was before any of the shootings on the rubble barricade or Glenfada Park North had taken place.

2.3 QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

2.3.1            Rossville Street

Mr Campbell said that the reason he crossed Rossville Street was because somebody had been shot outside the Rossville Flats.  He felt that shots were coming from the Derry Walls behind him and decided to try and get back across the road again.

2.3.2            William McKinney

Mr Campbell recalls William McKinney collapsing quite near the gable of Glenfada Park North.  He helped carry Mr McKinney from a point near the entrance to Abbey Park.

3            GERARD McCARTNEY’S EVIDENCE

Mr McCartney was the reporter for the Derry Journal who was covering the march.

3.1            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

3.1.1            Rubble barricade

Mr McCartney first heard shots when he was climbing over the rubble barricade.  He ran to the gable end of Glenfada Park North.  He saw a young man running over the barricade fall to the ground.  He later found out that the young man was Michael Kelly.  He recalls people running out to lift the youth to where he was.  He said that he thinks the youth had his back to the soldiers as he fell.  Mr Clarke told him that Michael Kelly was shot by a bullet that entered his left lower stomach and lodged within his body.

3.1.2            Civilian gunmen

Mr McCartney went to find some medical assistance and ran to the Blucher Street area.  He saw a man wearing a three quarter length coat, holding a rifle in an upright position.

In his 1972 statement, Mr McCartney referred to the civilian gunman appearing at the opening to Rossville Street and crossing inside Glenfada Park in the direction of Abbey Street.  Mr McCartney said that it was only when he had virtually got to Fahan Street that he saw the gunman.  He did not think that the gunman was close to the rubble barricade. 

Mr McCartney said that he has a memory of seeing the civilian gunman at an entranceway closer to the area between Glenfada Park and Abbey Park.

3.2            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

3.2.1            Civilian gunman

Mr McCartney said that his memory of seeing the civilian gunman is between leaving the rubble barricade and going up Fahan Street to cross to Blucher Street.

3.3            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

3.3.1            Civilian gunman

Mr McCartney said that he has a memory, which could be wrong, of seeing someone being shot as they came across the rubble barricade.  He has no recollection of anybody standing, walking or running to the north of Mr Kelly at the time when he saw him fall.

3.3.2   Derry Journal

Mr McCartney said that the main story in the Derry Journal about Bloody Sunday was written by the editor.  He said that the newspaper would have been aware of what he had seen.  He said that so many people had seen so much and there had been so many deaths that a global report of events was given.

3.4            FURTHER QUESTIONS ASKED ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

3.4.1            Rubble barricade

Mr McCartney said that he was not conscious of shots fired from the rubble barricade or of hearing the explosions.

He was not conscious of anybody else being brought into Glenfada Park.

4            PATRICK DOHERTY’S EVIDENCE

4.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

4.1.1       Rubble barricade

Mr Doherty could see Rossville Street from his position near the gable end of Glenfada Park North.  He saw a soldier step out from the north gable end of Glenfada Park North.  The soldier fired a rubber bullet which hit a man on the chest who went down on the ground.  The man was directly behind Mr Doherty.  He later found out that the man was called Mr Liddy.

Mr Doherty went to help Mr Liddy who told him not to worry about him and pointed to a young man who had been shot just a few yards away.  Mr Doherty and some other people carried the young man (Michael Kelly) into Glenfada Park.  He had heard no shooting except for the soldier who fired the rubber bullet gun at Mr Liddy.

Mr Doherty did not see anyone at any stage anywhere near the rubble barricade with a fizzing or smoking object or anyone with a pistol or revolver.

4.1.2            Glenfada Park North

Mr Doherty heard a lot of intense shooting.  Everyone began to run and scatter including most of the people who had been helping to carry Michael Kelly.

4.1.3       Abbey Park

Mr Doherty took Mr Kelly to a house in Abbey Park.  As he came through Glenfada Park North, he had not seen any other injured people.  Jim Wray was taken into the same house as Michael Kelly.  Mr Doherty was in the house in Abbey Park for 20 minutes.  The bodies of Mr Kelly and Mr Wary were still in the house when he left.

4.2            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

4.2.1            Rubble barricade/Glenfada Park North

Mr Doherty said that he was not sure whether the rubber bullet that hit Mr Liddy came before the live bullet that hit Michael Kelly.  He does not know why the group carrying Michael Kelly initially went towards the north of Glenfada Park North.

Mr Doherty did not see a petrol bomb in Glenfada Park North.  He would have had no idea if one was thrown behind his back as he was running across Glenfada Park North.

5            GERRY DORAN’S EVIDENCE

5.1            QUESTION SON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

5.1.1       Glenfada Park North

Mr Doran saw Jim Wray running in the car park of Glenfada Park North.  He did not see any soldiers but the general impression was that there were soldiers in that area.  There was pandemonium in the car park.  People were climbing into alcoves trying to get out of the way.

5.1.2            Abbey Park

Mr Doran saw a man crouched in a kneeling position in a gap or alleyway on the steps between Abbey Park and Glenfada Park.  The man seemed to have some sort of fit or spasm as if he had been given an electric shock and then he keeled over.

Mr Doran saw 6 or 7 soldiers.  He said that they were shouting amongst themselves and seemed to not know what they were doing.

6          HUGH GALLAGHER’S EVIDENCE

Mr Gallagher was 15 years old at the time of Bloody Sunday.

6.1            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

6.1.1       Long Tower Street

Mr Gallagher lived on Long Tower Street.  He was standing talking to Mrs Casey and her son, Sean when a large soldier walked past him.  The soldier walked as far as the Long Tower Bar, turned around, came back and grabbed Mr Gallagher.  This happened before the march had started, at about 1:00pm or 2:00pm.

Mr Gallagher had not said anything to the soldier who grabbed him.  He was doing nothing other than talking to Mrs Casey and her son.  The soldier did not tell him why he was being arrested.  Mr Gallagher was walked up Long Tower Street to a checkpoint and was handed to Soldier 104.

6.1.2       Detention

Soldier 104 took Mr Gallagher to an old fashioned jail at the junction of Henrietta Street and Bennet Street.  A group of Orange men shouted ‘fenian bastard’ at him.  When Mr Gallagher replied ‘Orange bastards,’ Soldier 104 told him to shut up or he would throw him to the Orange men.

Mr Gallagher was held at the jail for about an hour and was then taken by land rover to the Foyle Road detention centre.  He was photographed next to Soldier 104.  He was then taken to the RUC desk and met by Sergeant McGoldrick.  In due course, Mr Gallagher’s father was called and he came and collected him.

6.1.3       Charge of riotous behaviour

Mr Gallagher appeared in court on 7 March 2001 charged with riotous behaviour.  The charge was dismissed and the magistrate said that ‘there was a doubt in the case and the defendant was entitled to the benefit of it.’

6.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

6.2.1       Soldier 104

Mr Gallagher agreed that he had been taken to the detention centre to be ‘fitted up.’  He did not know that the mandatory penalty for riotous behaviour at that time was 6 months imprisonment.

Mr Gallagher said that two soldiers had given evidence at the magistrates court to the effect that he had been throwing stones in Barrack Street and that he was guilty of riotous behaviour. 

Mr Gallagher was not aware that Soldier 104 is the soldier who made the allegation about Joe Friel.

6.3             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

6.3.1       Soldier 104

Soldier 104 has no recollection of the incident.

7                    DANNY GILLESPIE’S EVIDENCE

Mr Gillespie was 32 years old at the time of Bloody Sunday.  A bullet grazed the top of his head when he was in Glenfada Park North.

7.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

7.1.1       William Street

Mr Gillespie said that he was standing opposite Con Bradley’s bar when he saw Tommy Whoriskey hit in the mouth by a rubber bullet which was fired from the direction of Barrier 14.

Mr Gillespie said that the bullet had badly cut Mr Whoriskey’s lip and face.  He said that the cuts were attributable to broken glass which had been packed into a bullet.  Mr Gillespie said that he saw lots of thick pieces of broken glass around.  He pointed the rubber bullet out to one of the photographers.  (Ciaran Donnelly of the Irish Times gave the photograph of the rubber bullet to the BSI.)

7.1.2       Rossville Street

Mr Gillespie said that CS gas was still being fired at Barrier 14.  He and Paddy Crawley went down Rossville Street because Mr Crawley had a bad chest.

Mr Gillespie said that he left Mr Crawley by the Rossville Flats and went into Glenfada Park North.  He then went back to Kells Walk and saw the APCs coming in.  Mr Gillespie ran south back towards the rubble barricade and ran into Glenfada Park North.

7.1.3       Glenfada Park North

Mr Gillespie made his way across to the trees that lined the centre of the courtyard.  He saw a group of 8 people carrying a young boy at shoulder height towards the alleyway that leads to Abbey Park.  He said that he was told later that the young boy was Michael Kelly.  Mr Gillespie did not recognise the photographs of the group carrying Mr Kelly.

Mr Gillespie followed the crowd with the body to Abbey Park.  He then returned to Glenfada Park North.  As he approached the trees in the centre of the courtyard, he saw 5 or 6 boys coming through the alleyway to Abbey Park carrying broken flagstones.  Mr Gillespie told them that he had heard live rounds and they should go somewhere safe.  He saw a soldier directly in front of him in the archway.  The soldier was on his own.  Mr Gillespie heard a sharp crack and felt a burning sensation on the top of the left side of his head.  He was stationary and facing the soldier when he was shot.  He remembers two of the boys that he had been telling off, asking him if he was alright.

Mr Gillespie thought that the boy to his left was shot because he was conscious of another shot being fired and a boy fell on top of him.  He did not see any wound or blood on the boy.

At the time that he was shot, he was not conscious of anything else going on in the car park apart from the 5 or 6 boys with broken flagstones.  He had not heard any explosion or seen anybody with anything like a weapon.

7.1.4       Vinny Coyle’s house

Mr Gillespie stumbled up the steps to Abbey Park.  He met Joe Moran and Michael Canavan who helped him to Lisfannon Park.  He was then taken to Vinny Coyle’s house where it was known that treatment would be available for people hurt in demonstrations.

7.1.5       Sunday Times archive

Mr Gillespie said that he was not conscious of a soldier with a Sterling machine gun.

Mr Gillespie said that he had never discussed Bloody Sunday with his brother, Billy.  He had no discussion with Billy about a civilian gunman.  He did not know whether Billy had helped Mrs Deery into 33 Chamberlain Street.

7.1.6       Praxis notes

Mr Gillespie remembers being interviewed by Praxis for the 20th anniversary documentary.  He said that he was not with three people who had been throwing stones in Abbey Park and who had come back into Glenfada Park.  He did not come back with the boys who had the flagstones.

Mr Gillespie has no recollection of a bullet hitting the wall and then hitting him.  He cannot recall whether he had told the documentary makers this.  He did not stand against a wall in Glenfada Park.  He did not notice two people who had been shot.  He only noticed the lad who fell on top of him.

7.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

7.2.1       Glenfada Park North

Mr Gillespie is not sure whether there were one or two occasions when he was standing by the trees.  There was a body taken through the alleyway to Abbey Park.  Lord Gifford suggested that there were many people running across Glenfada Park when Michael Kelly was carried across.  Mr Gillespie said that there were people in the courtyard but he cannot remember how many.  When he came back into Glenfada Park North he did not think that he was going into any area where there was shooting.

Mr Gillespie did not see any stones being thrown.

7.3             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

7.3.1       Rubber bullet

Mr Gillespie said that he definitely saw rubber bullets coming from the upper end of William Street.  At that time, the soldiers had already started to move on foot.

Mr Gillespie said that the rubber bullet had glass in it, but there was no glass in it when he picked it up.  Mr Glasgow said that Ciaran Donnelly had given evidence that the bullet he photographed was packed with a nail.

7.3.2       Glenfada Park North

Mr Gillespie said that he did not see the body that was being carried across the courtyard put down at any stage.  He did not see the body being carried northwards. 

The boys were definitely carrying flagstones.

7.3.3       Irish Times article

In an article for the Irish Times, the journalist Dick Grogan said that he had interviewed Tony Martin who told him that Danny Gillespie was hit by a bullet from a low velocity weapon like a Sterling.  Mr Gillespie said that he does not know how Mr Martin got that impression.  He said that it was not true to say that he was shot while he was helping the wounded.

7.3.4            Michael McGinley’s evidence

Michael McGinley said that he had seen an argument taking place near a man who had been wounded in the scalp in the area around Meenan Square/Meenan Park.  Mr Gillespie said that he has no recollection of this incident and does not know Michael McGinley.

7.3.5       Vinny Coyle’s house

Mr Gillespie said that Vinny Coyle’s house was the focal point for people with injuries.  Mr Gillespie’s head was shaved and his wound was cleaned.  He could not say whether there was a doctor there.  Mr Gillespie said that he was in the house for a few minutes and he decided not to go to hospital.

7.4       FURTHER QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

7.4.1       Sterling sub machine gun

Mr Gillespie saw a soldier with a Sterling sub machine gun going into Glenfada Park when he was making his way home.

7.4.2       Michael McGinley’s evidence

Mr Gillespie was shown Michael McGinley’s evidence.  Mr McGinley said that he saw an argument taking place near a man who was bleeding from the head.  The people arguing where shouting at a person ‘you nearly got us all killed.’  Mr Gillespie said that he lived around Eglington Place.

8             PATRICK KELLY’S EVIDENCE

8.1   QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

8.1.1   Free Derry Corner

Mr Kelly joined the march late because he was attending his daughter’s christening at Pennyburn church.

He was walking towards Free Derry Corner when he heard what he thought were rubber bullets.  Someone else shouted that they were live bullets and others shouted ‘watch the walls.’  He could see 12 soldiers on the city walls.

He arrived at Free Derry Corner at 3:50pm and said that Bernadette Devlin was beginning to speak.

8.1.2       Abbey Park

Mr Kelly ran north to avoid the shooting from the walls.  He saw the body of Barney McGuigan.  He turned and ran towards Lisfannon Park.  He saw 50 to 60 people standing for shelter in Glenfada Park South.

There were 10 or 12 people in the alleyway between Glenfada Park South and Abbey Park.

Mr Kelly said that he saw a woman sitting on a bollard whose leg was bleeding.  A Knight of Malta was tending to her.

Mr Kelly moved further into the alleyway between Glenfada Park South and Abbey Park and he saw a young man coming towards him.  The young man was dragging one of his legs and there were two others helping him.  He took it that the boy had been shot in the leg.  Mr Kelly does not remember seeing a group of people clustered around what might have been a body in an alleyway.

8.1.3       Glenfada Park North

Mr Kelly went into Glenfada Park North with his friend to look for wounded people.  His attention was caught by two soldiers standing at the northwest entrance to the car park.  One was small and broad.  He had a blackened face and wore a helmet with the visor up.  The other soldier who was tall and black pointed and said ‘get back you Irish bastards.’  Both soldiers were standing in the northeast entrance.  They put their guns up and Mr Kelly’s group retreated back and sheltered in the alleyway.

He does not remember a female Knight of Malta.  He did not hear any shots fired.

After a couple of minutes, Mr Kelly crept back into Glenfada Park North with at least two people.  The soldiers had disappeared.  Mr Kelly saw three bodies on the pavement along the south side of Glenfada Park North.  He helped carry the body closest to him who seemed to be dead.   He passed the body over to the others in the area of steps then went back to Glenfada Park North.

8.1.4       Rossville Street

Later Mr Kelly crossed Rossville Street and stood near to the body of Barney McGuigan by the telephone box.  An ambulance arrived.  He heard a lot of shots.  He could not be sure where the shots were coming from because people were sheltering on each side of the ambulance.

8.2             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

8.2.1   1972 accounts

Mr Kelly agreed that the account he gave at the time was more likely to be correct.  He agreed that it is possible that he may have seen the wounded woman at the end of the main shooting.  His 1972 account puts the woman near the Rossville Flats.

Mr Treacy suggested that Mr Kelly’s 1972 accounts say that he saw three bodies inside Glenfada Park North and one outside the car park which he believed to be Gerard McKinney.

8.3             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

8.3.1            Glenfada Park North

Mr Kelly said the wounded woman was bleeding from the general direction of her knee.  The photographs of Alana Burke being carried away in a stretcher do not bring any memories back to him because the woman he saw could walk.

Mr Peter Clarke told Mr Kelly that Michael Quinn and PIN 437 both refer to someone being shot in the leg in Glenfada Park North.  Mr Kelly thinks that there were two people helping the man.  He described the man as 19 or 20 years old, thin and wearing dark clothes.

9                    JOHN CARR’S EVIDENCE

John Carr was 13 years old at the time of Bloody Sunday.

9.1             QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

9.1.1       Abbey Park

Mr Carr was standing in the living room of his parents’ house when a crowd of people came through the alleyway between Glenfada Park North and Glenfada Park South.  Amongst the crowd were people carrying a person at shoulder height.  Mr Carr’s father took him and the other children upstairs and put him in a wardrobe in the back room that overlooked the Abbey Park car park.

Mr Carr came out of the wardrobe and went to the top of the stairs.  He discovered that the person being carried towards the house had been brought in. 

9.1.2       Glenfada Park North

Mr Carr looked out of a window at the front of the house.  He saw a group of people standing in the alleyway between Glenfada Park North and Glenfada Park South.  He heard single shots which seemed to be close.  He saw people in the alleyway run out.  There were 7 or 8 who ran through the gap in a low wall.  The remainder of people went to Fahan Street West.  When these people had gone in their different directions, he had a clear sight of vision through the alleyway.

Mr Carr could see a man in the south west corner of Glenfada Park North.  He said that the man lifted his head and left hand.  He saw a soldier run by the body of a man and put his foot on the back or side of him.

9.1.3       Abbey Street

Mr Carr saw a man in Abbey Street who was facing the direction of Fahan Street West when the man saw the soldier he threw his hands up in the air.  The soldier shot the man.  The man fell to the right and rolled on his back.  As he did he blessed himself.   The man was doing nothing and had his hands clearly in the air.  He had not thrown anything.

Mr Carr’s father pulled him away from the window.  He got up again to look out of the window and saw another man running over towards the man who had been shot.

This second man was shot within a foot or two from the first man.  The second man was wearing glasses, a heavy coat and a camera.  He saw the second man fall.  The soldier turned around and went back into Glenfada Park North.

Mr Carr started screaming and went to look for his father.  He went outside the house and saw a crowd of people around the man who had been shot.  People were treating the man for a heart attack and Mr Carr was shouting that he had been shot.

9.1.4       Leo Young’s evidence

Mr Carr was shown Leo Young’s evidence.  Mr Young saw a man running past the entrance to the alleyway to Glenfada Park North, seeing a soldier fire and the man falling when the bullet hit the ground behind him.

Mr Carr agreed that it is possible that this is a description of the second man he saw in Abbey Street.  That the man had fallen when the shot was fired rather than actually been hit by the shot.

9.2            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

9.2.1            Glenfada Park North

When Mr Carr first saw the body in Glenfada Park North, it was already lying on the ground.  He saw the head and arm move and from that moment on, the body was motionless.  When he first saw the body, it was half on and half off the pavement.  The soldier ran past and trod on the body.

9.2.2            Sequence

Mr Carr said he saw the body in the corner of Glenfada Park, then saw an APC reversing and then saw the shooting on the steps in Abbey Park.

9.3 QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

9.3.1            Glenfada Park North

Mr Carr said that the soldier ran across the body in the corner and trod on it as he ran.  The soldier did not stop to look under the body.  Mr Carr said that it is not possible that the soldier was checking to see if there was a weapon under the body because it happened too quickly.

9.3.2            Abbey Park

Mr Peter Clarke told Mr Carr that because the bullet lodged in Gerard Donaghy’s body, something must have slowed it down.  He suggested that it is possible that the bullet that went through Gerard McKinney could have gone on into Gerard Donaghy.

10               DENIS PATRICK McLAUGHLIN’S EVIDENCE

10.1         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

10.1.1  Rossville Street

Mr McLaughlin saw an APC hit a man who was knocked six feet in the air.  He had the impression that the APC was going after whatever person was in front of the APC at the time.  There were some young people on the waste ground, running with stones in their hands.

Mr McLaughlin said that the back doors of the APC at Kells Walk opened and a group of soldiers jumped out of the back, firing volleys of rubber bullets.  They were firing at people running away on the waste ground and on Rossville Street.  He realised that live bullets were being fired.  He was hit by a glancing blow with a rubber bullet.

10.1.2  Rubble barricade

Mr McLaughlin saw a young man dressed in a brown suit with dark hair who was running over the rubble barricade in the direction of Free Derry Corner.  The young man was not holding anything in his hands.  The man fell back and rolled over.  Mr McLaughlin and George Roberts crawled towards the man.  He later identified the man as William Nash.

Mr McLaughlin does not remember George Roberts throwing stones from the rubble barricade.

Ms McGahey told Mr McLaughlin that it may be suggested that the person he saw shot was shot immediately before Michael Kelly and the bullet may have gone through the first man and then into Michael Kelly.

Mr McLaughlin saw a second person fall.  He presumed that the man had been shot dead.  Another person walked out to the second person and when more shots rang out he fell on top of Mr McLaughlin.  He thought that this man had been shot because of the way that he fell.  He turned away and a fourth person fell on top of him.  He did not see any civilian with a weapon of any sort.

10.1.3  1972 taped interview

Mr McLaughlin does not remember seeing somebody shot in the stomach but said that he is sure that what he said at the time is right.

He remembers a boy being shot at the rubble barricade and blood spurting out of the boy’s head.

10.1.4            Glenfada Park North

Mr McLaughlin said that he was pulled away from the rubble barricade by ‘Smiler’ (Anthony McGilloway).  Mr McLaughlin became hysterical and was comforted by Father Bradley.

He now has no recollection of a man at the gable end pulling off his coat and seeing steam rising out of him and a hole in his shoulder.

Soldiers came around from the Glenfada Park North courtyard towards the gable end.  People were standing round in little groups.  The group furthest from the Rossville Street side had a better view of the soldiers approaching and made a run for it.  One soldier, who was out on his own, shouted ‘Stop, or I’ll shoot.’  There were two groups of people moving towards the alleyway.  The soldier lifted his rifle to his shoulder and fired shots.  He shot in quick succession and either had a sub machine gun or an SLR.  One of the boys who was running fell along the southern side of Glenfada Park.  He said Patrick McGinley came back with his hands on his head.  Ms McGahey told Mr McLaughlin that Mr McGinley has a recollection of trying to start off from the gable end but being pulled back by Barry Liddy.

10.1.5 Fort George

Within split seconds, other soldiers arrived in Glenfada Park North.  He was arrested and taken to Fort George.  He said the soldiers and policemen were constantly teasing the arrestees.  They were made to stand straight up in a pen.  He was made to stand with his face against a large gas heater.  He asked for a drink and a soldier spat in his mouth.  He fainted and a soldier kicked him in the side and said ‘Get up, you are only kidding.’

10.2            QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES AND WOUNDED

10.2.1  Glenfada Park North

Mr McLaughlin identified himself as the youth with the bleached jeans standing by the gable wall of Glenfada Park North.  He does not recall Father O’Keefe with his hand on his shoulder.  He said that he was in a ‘complete state’ and traumatised by what he had seen.

Mr Treacy asked him whether he became conscious of the soldier arriving after the boy/boys had been shot.  Mr McLaughlin said there were other soldiers but his perspective was on one soldier at the time.

10.2.2            Timing

Mr McLaughlin said that he thinks it was a matter of seconds when the people fell at the rubble barricade.  He could not put a time on the period between him getting to the gable wall and soldiers arresting him.

10.3         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

10.3.1  1972 statement

Mr McLaughlin said that he told Eversheds that he could not now recollect everything that was in his 1972 statement but if it was in his statement it must have been true at the time.

10.3.2            Rossville Street

Mr McLaughlin said that it is not an exaggeration to say that he saw the person knocked six feet into the air by the APC or that the APC was driving round and round, almost chasing people.  He heard high velocity live rounds being fired almost immediately after the arrival of the APCs.

Mr McLaughlin came out of the flat in Glenfada Park North because he was a teenager and thought that it was silly to stand there.  He recalls people cramming into the doorway of Block 1 of the Rossville Flats.

10.3.3            Rubble barricade

Mr McLaughlin did not see anybody getting carried away from the rubble barricade. He agreed that somebody could have been carried away either before he got there or after he left.  He said that the first man he saw shot was William Nash.

10.3.4  Arrest

Mr McLaughlin said that a soldier fired a rubber bullet gun in between his legs from behind him whilst his hands were up on the wall.  He cannot remember exactly where it was that this happened but he showed his injury to the police at Fort George.

10.3.5 Fort George

Mr McLaughlin said that he does not remember giving lip to the soldiers.  He does not now remember fainting and said that his 1972 statement did not suggest it was a pretend faint.  He can remember the soldier spitting in his mouth.  Mr Elias said that he had not mentioned the faint in his 1972 statement.  (Mr Treacy pointed out that a number of the pages in the middle of Mr McLauglin’s 1972 statement are missing.)

Mr McLaughlin cannot recollect any damage to his head as a result of it banging on the floor.  He cannot now recollect making a complaint about the injury to his inner thigh but his 1972 statement said that he did.

11               DAMIEN FRIEL’S STATEMENT

11.1         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

11.1.1  Rossville Street

Mr Friel ran into a flat in Kells Walk as the army vehicles came into Rossville Street.  He looked out of the window onto the waste ground at Eden Place and Pilots Row and saw a soldier catch a young man who was running towards the Rossville Flats.  He thought, from the soldier’s movements, that he had a rifle with a bayonet fixed on the end.  The soldier made a jabbing movement with his rifle into the upper part of the young man’s body.  The young man dodged from side to side and the soldier slashed his rifle down onto the man.  The young man was put into an APC.

Mr Friel ran upstairs to the top floor of the maisonette and looked out of a window on the west side of the building into Columbcille Court.  Mr Friel said he could see a part of Rossville Street which included the footpaths.

There was a French cameraman in the living room who kept trying to look out of the window.  People were begging the cameraman to come away from the window.  In his 1972 statement, Mr Friel said that the cameraman stepped outside the door onto the terrace facing directly onto Rossville Street.

Mr Friel noticed a soldier looking up towards the window where he was standing.  The soldier was standing behind an APC in the waste ground.  The first soldier gestured up towards the window.  Mr Friel had the impression that he was the senior of the two and the second soldier took aim and fired what he thought was a rubber bullet gun in Mr Friel’s direction.  The rubber bullet clipped the window frame and glass in the window where Mr Friel was standing.  The glass shattered and caught a young woman in her eye.

11.1.2  Kells Walk pram ramp

Mr Friel ran upstairs to look out of the window on the landing.  He saw a soldier positioned at the end of the pram ramp to the south of Kells Walk, leaning his gun on the top of the wall.  The soldier was firing off shots indiscriminately in the general direction of the Rossville Flats.  He seemed to be firing without stopping.  Mr Friel recalls cartridges scattered on the floor.

11.2         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

11.2.1  Kells Walk pram ramp

Mr Friel does not think he stuck his head out of the window to see the pram ramp.  Mr Peter Clarke suggested there were a total of 7 shots fired from this position.  Mr Friel said that he could not say how many shots were fired from there.

11.2.2            Columbcille Court

Mr Friel could see about 15 to 20 people being put up against the wall.  There was a soldier standing on either side of the group with his gun aimed directly at the group.  Meanwhile four other soldiers beat the group with batons and rifle butts.  They also kicked and punched the people.  Mr Peter Clarke said that Father Bradley had not mentioned being beaten continuously for five minutes.  Mr Friel said that he has the image of the priest in his mind.  He did not see anyone shot with an SLR or rubber bullet gun in this group.

12               BENN KEAVENEY’S EVIDENCE

Mr Keaveney was 15 years old at the time of Bloody Sunday.

12.1         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

12.1.1  IRA

Mr Keaveney said that it was common knowledge that the Provisional IRA would not be in attendance at the march.  There was no information about the Officials.

Mr Keaveney said that on some riots, some of which occurred after civil rights marches, the IRA would turn up towards the end of the riot.  He had witnessed rifle fire and machine gun fire from the IRA.  Signals were given to the rioters to move out of the way when the IRA was going to engage the Army.

12.1.2            Rossville Flats car park

Mr Keaveney was running towards the alleyways between Blocks 2 and 3 when he heard the loud crack of a shot passing over his head which hit the retaining wall.  He saw a soldier firing upwards towards Block 2.  There was a barrage of fire.  He had the impression that there was firing going on beyond as well as inside the car park.

12.1.3 South of the Rossville Flats

Mr Keaveney ran half way up the Fahan Street steps when he noticed mud spitting up the banking.  He realised shots were being fired from the walls.  There were 6 to 10 shots.  He retreated to the bottom of the steps and took cover in Lisfannon Park.

12.1.4            Glenfada Park North

Mr Keaveney went from Abbey Park into Glenfada Park North with the intention of helping take the injured people away from the rubble barricade.  He identified himself in a photograph inside Glenfada Park North.

Mr Keaveney saw a soldier running up Rossville Street and firing a shot.  He saw two soldiers enter Glenfada Park North via the northeast entrance.  He thought that one of the soldiers had a Sten gun because he seemed to be firing without aiming. 

Mr Keaveney said that the person to his right had been hit in the face or neck.  The person had not been holding anything that looked like a weapon.  Bullets were still being fired and as Mr Keaveney turned to run, the bullets hit the wall and bits of pebbledash and brick hit him in the face.  He crouched down and was aware of others moving past him. 

Mr Keaveney remembers two soldiers moving towards him at the southwest exit.  He saw a man who had been shot who was speaking to people on the other side of the fence beside him.

12.1.5  Abbey Park

Mr Keaveney remembers helping to carry a number of bodies.  Very shortly after he had gone back into Abbey Park, a man ran towards the group he was with screaming ‘I’m hit, I’m hit.’  Mr Keaveney could see blood beneath the man’s hand.  There were lots of people moving towards the man to help him.

Mr Keaveney saw two young men running, carrying a large box containing between 2 and 4 nail bombs.  They were wearing bulky jackets and may also have had some other bombs in their pockets.  They appeared to have just arrived in the area and did not know anything about what had happened.  An old man approached them and said ‘Don’t do it, the soldiers have moved back.’  The man added that the Army would only use it as an excuse for their actions that day.  After the old man had spoken to them, they moved back towards the Bog Road.  Mr Keaveney knew one of the men by sight and had seen them at previous riots.  When he saw the young men with the nail bombs he had already helped to carry people into the houses.

12.1.6            Lisfannon Park

Mr Keaveney saw the same men in Lisfannon Park a long time after the soldiers had retreated.  They were standing around another man who was a Provisional IRA member and was wearing a long coat inside which he could make out the obvious shape of a rifle.

12.2         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILIES

12.2.1  Glenfada Park North

Mr Keaveney said that he did not see a riot of any kind taking place in Glenfada Park north.  The man who he saw shot was standing beside Mr Keaveney at the time he was shot and was not running or crouching.

Mr Keaveney said that the manner in which one of the soldiers fired his gun led him to believe that it was a Sten sub machine gun.

Mr Keaveney does not recall soldiers firing over a car in Glenfada Park North.  He was shown contemporary photographs of the soldiers who may have been in Glenfada Park North but could not identify them with any certainty.

12.2.2            Gerard Donaghy

Mr Keaveney said that he helped to carry the body of Gerard Donaghy who did not have any nail bombs on his person.

12.2.3            Counselling

Mr Keaveney has worked with debriefing trauma and torture victims.  In his work, he debriefed a soldier who claimed that he had served in Derry on Bloody Sunday.  The soldier had at no time mentioned having participated directly in the events of Bloody Sunday.  He felt shame at the way the Parachute Regiment gloated over what they had done, including on Bloody Sunday.  He referred to the trophies they would have had in the Barracks and the Clegg case.  The soldier is now dead.  The Tribunal ruled that Mr Keaveney did not have to provide the name of the soldier.

12.3         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

12.3.1  Glenfada Park North

Mr Keaveney does not recall seeing anyone shot in the middle of Glenfada Park North.  He did not see any weapons being taken in or out of the boot of a car.  He has no knowledge of nail bombs being carried at any time in Glenfada Park.

12.3.2 Nail bombs

Mr Keaveney said that the nail bombs were in a box and not a tray.

12.3.3            Statement

Mr Keaveney did not make a statement in 1972.  He was not reading the ‘Eye-witness’ book when he made his statement in May 1998. 

He said that he has a memory gap about Glenfada Park North.  He did not agree that the other incidents that he referred to in his statement had been fuelled by the literature on Bloody Sunday.

Mr Keaveney recalls carrying a body from the archway between Glenfada Park and Abbey Park.  He has a memory of a denim jacket.  He agreed that he had not mentioned this in the first statement that he had submitted.

12.3.4  Counselling

Mr Keaveney said that he did not know which Regiment the soldier he had counselled belonged to.  The file that he would have kept on the soldier had been destroyed.

13        GREG DOHERTY’S EVIDENCE

13.1         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TRIBUNAL

13.1.1            William Street

Mr Doherty was opposite the GPO sorting office when he heard two low velocity shots fired from somewhere behind him as he walked along William Street.  He said that it was possible to mistake rubber bullets for low velocity shots but at the time, he thought that hey were low velocity shots.

13.1.2  Abbey Park

Mr Doherty ran away when the Army came into the Bogside.  He heard gunfire and ended up at the south gable end of Glenfada Park South.  He found his cousin, Tom Heaney, and ran across the road to Lisfannon Park.  He could see across to the alleyway between Abbey Park and Glenfada Park South and he could see people helping someone who was injured.

Mr Doherty could see people in the alleyway beckoning to him for help.  Johnny McLaughlin persuaded him and a number of others to cross the Old Bog Road and to go back and help in Abbey Park.  There was a group of people around a person who was on the ground.

13.1.3            Glenfada Park North

Mr Doherty’s attention was drawn to the alleyway between Glenfada Park North and Glenfada Park South.  He went through the alleyway and saw four bodies.  Mr Doherty was not near enough to see whether the fourth person was injured.

As Mr Doherty moved past the corner of the alleyway into Glenfada Park North, he could see 3 or 4 soldiers at the north-eastern entrance.  They were very close together and the one in front was down on one knee with his gun raised.  The other soldiers were standing and talking to each other and their guns were either to their sides or facing downwards.

Mr Doherty has no recollection of people huddled in the entrance between Glenfada Park and Rossville Street.  He did not see anybody approach the fourth person.

Mr Doherty approached the first two bodies and believed the people were dead.  He moved to the third person who was alive and helped to carry him to a house in Abbey Park.  Mr Doherty identified himself in a video showing bodies being carried into Abbey Park.  After helping the man into a house in Abbey Park, Mr Doherty left and found a priest.  He subsequently discovered that the man he had helped was William McKinney.

13.1.4 Block 2 Rossville Flats

After having found the priest, Mr Doherty went to look for his cousins.  He went into Block 2 of the Rossville Flats and up to the first floor landing.  He saw Liam Mailey with two or three others cradling the body of a young man.  He agreed that it was possibly Kevin McElhinney.

13.1.5            Westland Street

Mr Doherty was walking along Westland Street when a car pulled up beside him.  Martin McCourt, a well known Republican, was in the car.  Mr Doherty told him that he was too late to take action against the soldiers.

13.2         QUESTIONS ON BEHALF OF THE SOLDIERS

13.2.1  Glenfada Park North

Mr Doherty is satisfied that he saw four bodies lying in Glenfada Park North.  He does not remember a Knight of Malta trying to clear the way.  He was one of the first people to go into Glenfada Park North.  There were people on either side of him.

 

Timetable of proceedings

 

Monday 15              para 1 to 5

Tuesday 16               para 6 to 9.1.3

Wednesday 17        para 9.1.4 to 11

Thursday 18             para 12 to 13

 

# Back # Previous # Home # Next #

___________________

TOP For Peace Justice & Human Rights TOP

___________________
Site last updated 21 March, 2002 | ITSUVO |
Valid HTML 4.0!